


I'm No Good For You

by WishUponADragon



Series: Worlds Collide [1]
Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Procedures, i have no explanation just take it, slight gore, unrealistically fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishUponADragon/pseuds/WishUponADragon
Summary: Finding an assassin in her kitchen was not something Jack Starbright expected. Falling for him definitely wasn't.
Relationships: Yassen Gregorovich/Jack Starbright
Series: Worlds Collide [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049111
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	I'm No Good For You

Jack was getting used to being alone in their flat. Alex was often gone, and when he was back, permanently if Mrs. Jones was to be believed, but truth be told just in between missions, he spent a lot of time away with Tom Harris, trying to catch up on everything he’d missed in school and socially. 

She didn’t begrudge him the time spent away, after all, every class he passed was another step towards graduating, towards a normal job and a normal life and that much less control MI6 could have over him. Nor did she begrudge the slew of boyfriends and girlfriends and maybes and in-another-lifes that came and went. She was a hard person to hold a relationship with, occupied as she was by her intense law school studies and a child that wasn’t hers that she couldn’t talk much about. 

So, Jack was used to being alone in the flat. She was very much not used to being alone in the flat and hearing quiet Russian curses being mumbled from the kitchen. 

As quietly as she could manage, which was very quietly indeed since she’d been practicing after the kidnapping incident, Jack lifted the largely decorative mall-bought katana from its stand over her bed and crept to the kitchen. She kept close to the wall, careful of the spots in the floorboard that creaked, then all at once spun into the room and pointed the sword at the intruder. 

She was met with a gun in her face, held by a man who looked half dead already. Neither one moved for what felt like hours, but must have been a minute or less, because Jack only started breathing again when he spoke. “It is Miss Starbright, isn’t it?” 

His British accent was flawless, and she suspected if the encounter had happened on her home soil his American accent would have been beyond reproach as well. She hadn’t seen him before, but there was only one person this could possibly be.

Getting into the late Ian Rider’s flat was not easy. It required not only a key but a passcode, and all the windows were bolted shut. She hadn’t heard any windows breaking, so he had to have come through the door. Picking locks was easy, but he didn’t have any computer equipment, so he must have had the passcode already. 

On top of that, most of Ian’s associates had written the place off after he’d died. Only the few that knew about Alex would have suspected they’d kept the extensive first aid kit the man was using to patch up the bullethole in his torso. His completely naked torso. Better not think about that too long. Anyways. Ian’s associates would have better places to go to, safer safehouses. 

But the passcode was something John Rider had also known, and would have only given to people he trusted. 

The only person who fit into this profile of ‘men who could even theoretically be in her flat’ was dead. 

Supposedly. 

“You have a lot of nerve coming here.” 

The man didn’t take his eyes off her, but his lips pulled up in a grin as he shook the gun slightly, drawing her attention back down to it. “You don’t scare easily, do you Miss Starbright?”

She most definitely did. However, she was not about to let him know that. “And you can’t take a hint.” She readjusted her sweaty grip on the katana handle. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged, and then flinched as he jostled the wound. “Thought it would be empty. Isn’t Wednesday your date night?”

“No, Cassandra broke up with me-“ Wait a second. “Have you been watching us?”

“Yes.” 

Well, at least he was honest. That was a vast improvement over what she’d come to expect from 'associates' of the Rider family. Still, it was really creepy. “Why?”

He went back to pulling the needle through the bullethole, not lowering the gun but occasionally dropping his eyes down to see what he was doing. Jack almost thought he wasn’t going to answer. 

Before she could press him further, he sighed. “I haven’t given you much reason to believe me, I know, but I’ve been making sure you and Alex are safe. Keeping permanent residence is very dangerous when you have the kind of enemies he does.”

The part about the danger, sure, she’d buy that, the thought had crossed her mind once or twice before. But keeping them safe... “Why would you do that?”

He shrugged, and flinched again, then shifted as he set the gun down beside him and picked up the scissors to finish off the stitches in his side. “I don’t have a reason I can give you.” 

Of course he didn’t. Jack’s eyes flickered down to the source of a soft sound. Blood was still slowly dripping on the floor from behind him. “...Do you want help with the other one?” 

“Yes.”

Jack set the katana on the counter and walked around to look. Alex had come home from quite a few missions bloody and bruised but he’d always been to the hospital or at least a medic before she saw him. The aftermath was nothing like the initial thing. 

Luckily, she’d been to a few first aid classes- just in case, she told herself, though really it was almost a certainty she’d need these skills at some point. Only the specific context was a surprise. 

The injury didn’t look as serious as she’d first thought. The blood flow was slow enough that she didn’t think anything major had been hit. Stitches and a plaster were probably all he’d need, and she guessed she didn’t have to tell the assassin he’d be sore tomorrow, considering the scars he already had. 

Breaking skin was tougher than she’d thought it would be from her classes. Yassen didn’t move as she put the stitches in, though she could feel the faintest of twitches in the muscles under her hand under her hand. Actually, she really needed to focus on something other than how muscular his back was. 

“Why did you kill Ian?” She knew, or at least could guess. But she’d probably never have Ian’s murderer even a little bit under her thumb again, and she couldn’t not ask. 

Yassen was quieter than before when he answered. “It was the job. Ian knew it too. One of us was not going to leave Cornwall.” He sounded tired. 

That was not what she’d expected. When she’d first learned about the assassin, she’d guessed he was a sadistic monster who took pleasure in killing. But the facts she knew were not lining up with that. “Why didn’t you kill Alex?”

She thought he wasn’t going to answer. She finished with the stitches and backed away a little. He turned so she was in his line of sight and nodded slightly. She didn’t move and didn’t speak. 

Finally, he stirred. “It was only his first job. I thought he might be able to get away.” This time his smile was not as amicable. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know.” Something about that was wrong. Alex had told her he’d saved him. Granted, he’d also told her that he’d died doing so, so maybe she didn’t know as much as she thought she did. Jack decided to leave it alone for now. She probably shouldn’t be telling him anything. But. If anyone would know what to do... “Somewhere. On another mission. They blackmailed him into this one too.” She shuddered to a stop before taking in a big breath and continuing. “I’m- I’m worried. They’re going to get him killed. They’ve already gotten him hurt.”

More of her stress than she’d intended must have slipped into her voice. He looked over at her strangely. “Hmm. Scorpia isn’t the only one with a strict anti-retirement policy, I suppose.”

Ah. That definitely didn’t bear any further discussion. New topic. Immediately. “Who shot you?”

“Eh. Fancy new London gang. They thought they could intimidate me with their numbers and guns.”

She leaned against the counter next to him. “Didn’t work?”

“No.”

“Did they follow you?”

He snorted. “None of the ones that caught me lived.”

“A ‘no’ would do fine.” She looked distantly at the blood on the counter and floor, trying to remember if she still had any bleach. “Do you have anywhere safe to stay?” 

“No.”

Jack nodded slowly. “Alright. Well, stay here then. I’d rather have you in the flat than lurking around my neighborhood.” She pushed away and walked backwards, keeping him in sight for now. “The bathroom’s down the hall. Ian’s room is the second past it. I’m going to bed, don’t trip the alarm if you leave.” 

She slid the katana off the table and waved a quick goodnight before slipping away, wondering whether she’d made the right choice and why her heart was beating so quickly. 

* * *

  
  


He was gone in the morning, with almost no trace he’d been there at all. Jack stood by the counter for a long time trying to figure out how he’d gotten all of the blood cleaned up. 

There was a stack of pancakes left on the table. Jack inspected them thoroughly, trying to decide whether they were poisoned or not. Eventually she decided if he’d meant to kill her he would have done so earlier, and ate the pancakes. They were very good, fluffier than she ever managed to make them. 

And then there were the roses. They were small, barely more than rosebuds, and they were purple. Jack briefly wondered how he’d guessed her favorite color before remembering it was wrapped around the hilt of her sword. It was an unnecessary gesture, but sweet nonetheless. She twirled one between her fingers thoughtfully before she remembered she needed to get to school. 

Her classes were draining and Jack almost forgot about the strange encounter. She drifted through her usual work for the next few days, though she still dove for the phone every time it ringed, just in case it was Alex. Just in case he needed her. 

It was silly, of course. What could she possibly do from London, with no contacts in this underground world he occupied and not even the first idea of where he was? Still. She answered every call. Just in case. 

Three days later, the door to her flat was opened, not with a lockpick, but with a key. The alarm was turned off by someone a lot more familiar than the assassin who’d visited while he was away.

* * *

  
  


Jack didn’t ask either of them what had happened. It wasn’t important, especially considering the results. MI6 hadn’t called Alex for a debrief, or in fact at all, in the past month. It was normal, and quiet, and safe. It was everything she’d wanted for the two of them.

Nevermind that it was the three of them now. Yassen had taken her seriously when she’d told him she’d rather have him where she could see him, and Jack couldn’t bring herself to wholeheartedly object. 

There were of course the very shallow things to consider- he cooked like a Parisian chef, was hotter than all hell, and was built like Adonis- but well beyond all of that, she trusted him. After all the time she’d spent begging MI6 to let Alex go, all she’d had to do to actually make that happen was to tell Yassen she was worried about him. 

Between the two, Yassen Gregorovich had saved Alex three times now, and MI6 had only brought them trouble. She knew which one she’d prefer to have around. 

Alex didn’t protest like she’d thought he would. Whatever had happened before he’d made his way back must have finally fixed the broken bridge between them, because he seemed perfectly fine around the assassin. He still jumped at loud noises and kept away from the center of rooms, but that wasn’t new. As time went on, Jack noticed that Yassen did these things too. More subtly, less like his life depended on it, but still. 

It felt more like having a bodyguard and less like having a boyfriend at times, but Jack supposed that was for the best. She really hadn’t done well with normal people, and the more Yassen was around her and Alex, the less time they spent looking over their shoulders. They weren’t a perfect family, but they were alive, and mostly safe, and Jack could be very happy with that. 


End file.
